Vietnam Airlines - good?

[craigj1960]

What's the community view on Vietnam Airlines Business Class for ultra long haul?

 

[jase05]

What's the community view on Vietnam Airlines Business Class for ultra long haul?

I’ve travelled with them from Australia before and although not as polished as some others I thought the seat was very comfortable and whilst the food and beverage service was a tad tardy at times I had no complaints with the quality of food. Would absolutely fly them again on that route if the price is right

 

[MEL_Traveller]

It’s a flat bed, one of the standard models used by almost all carriers (depending on the aircraft, they have different seats on the a350 and 787). Half the price of other carriers at the moment, partly due to the long layover in SGN. But I’d argue no current food and beverage offering by any of the major airlines is worth the extra $2000 each way to europe!

 

[jase05]

It’s a flat bed, one of the standard models used by almost all carriers (depending on the aircraft, they have different seats on the a350 and 787). Half the price of other carriers at the moment, partly due to the long layover in SGN. But I’d argue no current food and beverage offering by any of the major airlines is worth the extra $2000 each way to europe!

I haven’t read the fare conditions but plenty of worse places than SGN to stopover and I’d even consider adding a extra day or 2 there on the way over or back if time permits

 

[papeto]

Just check I think you need a visa if you have a stop over. Previously they used to fly you into SGN and out of Hanoi. I flew them once in Premuim Economy to CDG and the hard product is comparable with the best out there. The soft product is a bit low rent though. Oh BTW premuim economy used to be fully flex and cheaper than a fully flex economy ticket. Also was the cheapest one way to/ or from Europe back in the day.

 

[TomYagher]

What's the community view on Vietnam Airlines Business Class for ultra long haul?

Currently, the community view would be if it’s not Qantas it’s good to go

Flew them a couple years ago and had great service, and that’s the main thing I look for an airline these days.

 

[MH_fan]

Booked with them in J to CDG for March next year (to try and maintain my ST status). Will be my first time flying with them. Snagged a fare for about 4.7k (it's about 5k now but still cheaper than everyone else out there). It's only 1 stop via SGN each way. There's a 6.5hr transit on the way there, which I can cope with, but the transit on the way back is 14.5hrs and that's going to be a killer! Their W fare is about 2.2k at the moment.

Post automatically merged: Aug 25, 2022

You do need a visa if you want a stopover. The only countries that don't need one are the ASEAN ones.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

You do need a visa if you want a stopover. The only countries that don't need one are the ASEAN ones.

And UK citizens Up to 15 days entry to Vietnam, visa free (reinstated as of a couple weeks ago apparently)

 

[victor747]

What's the community view on Vietnam Airlines Business Class for ultra long haul?

i have flown VN between SYD - SGN hard product good very new 787 with reverse harringbone seats, however the service and food are not polished at all.
VN usually is considerably cheaper than other airlines hence i cant complain too much about the soft products.

 

[MH_fan]

Does anyone know if VN are providing complimentary hotel stays for transits over 7 hours? I've been trying to find out and it seems they were offering this right up until the pandemic but have not been able to find any evidence of it since then. They have apparently arranged the visas (if you needed one), provided transport to and from the hotel, and even offered day tours in the past.
I booked my tickets through a travel agent and the advice up until the pandemic started was to get the travel agent to sort it out with VN directly, which is what I'm planning to do around 2-3 months before I'm due to travel.

 

[Economizer]

Does anyone know if VN are providing complimentary hotel stays for transits over 7 hours? I've been trying to find out and it seems they were offering this right up until the pandemic but have not been able to find any evidence of it since then. They have apparently arranged the visas (if you needed one), provided transport to and from the hotel, and even offered day tours in the past.
I booked my tickets through a travel agent and the advice up until the pandemic started was to get the travel agent to sort it out with VN directly, which is what I'm planning to do around 2-3 months before I'm due to travel.

Pre-Covid, VN used to offer free transit hotels with free meals and a city tour depending on the length of the layover. I used it many times and thought it was a great way to do a quick bit of sightseeing in SGN and Hanoi.
Needed to have passport photos with you for the 1-day visas.
On the planes, wouldn’t worry too much about the meals or infotainment because it’s the flat bed we’re all really interested in - same design as Cathay business used to have.

 

[Philip Bailey]

What's the community view on Vietnam Airlines Business Class for ultra long haul?

We flew from Sydney to London with them and although, maybe not quite top tier, business seats were okay although when flat for my 6' frame it was a bit to cramped for my legs /feet , food and service were both good prices were very good and stopover wasn't too long A good airline to fly

 

[MH_fan]

I emailed VN about their stopover/transit programme and they finally got back to me. They confirmed that it was something they'd offered for transits over 6 hours but was suspended when COVID hit at the start of 2020. It is still suspended and there is no indication of when this service will return. Hopefully it will because it is a great service and one that would definitely encourage me to to book with them in future.

 

[Joolz49]

It's been a few years since I flew with VN but at that stage they were right up with the others. Crew were trained by Qantas and planes fairly new. Business class was excellent, had no complaints at all with service or food. Second leg to Paris was by code share Air France, but the plane had a mechanical fault and the part had to be flown in from Paris, so we had to spend an extra day in Saigon - all passengers accommodated in a decent hotel and transferred to the airport early next day. Now they have released their early bird fares for next year, I'm seriously considering going with them again, so much cheaper and, as Economizer says - it's the flat bad that we want!

 

[jb747]

Crew were trained by Qantas…

Are they?

 

[Joolz49]

Are they?

Don't know if they still are, but they certainly used to be. As I said, this was a few years ago...

 

[BAM1748]

I haven't personally used them, however I work with a Vietnamese engineer in the compliance field who won't fly them on his quarterly trips from Sydney to Vietnam on the grounds of too many short cuts to get a plane in the air.